Immediately after the Battle of Karbala Lady Zainab (a.s) sister of Imam Hussain (a.s) emerged as a Hero and took the reins in her hand and became a symbol of resistance and courage. She is popularly known as the “Hero Of Karbala” and till date remains a role model for women of the community today.

After the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s) on the 10th day, a man named Shimr who would take orders from Umar ibn Sa’ad the commander of Yazid’s army leading at Karbala, cut off the Imam’s head from the body with his sword and raised the head on his sword tip and then Imam’s tents and that of his womenfolk and companions were ransacked. All belongings were taken as well as his injured horse.

Lone surviving 22 yr old ailing son of Hussain (a.s) Zain-ul- Abidin (a.s) and all the women were taken into custody by evil king Yazid’s army men. Amongst those women who survived were Rubab (a.s) wife of Imam Husain (a.s) and his sister Lady Zainab (a.s) whose 2 sons Aun and Mohammad too were killed. His family was then taken to another place called Kufa which is also now a city in Iraq, where tyrant Yazid’s governor Ibn Ziyad was located.

Eventually the severed head of Imam Hussain (a.s) was presented to the governor Ibn Ziyad, who then proceeded to tap the teeth of the Imam (a.s) with a stick however Zaid bin al-‘Arqam, a companion of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was present at the governor’s house and objected to this terrible display.

Then-governor Ibn Ziyad ordered that the heads of Imam Hussain (a.s) and some of those who were martyred should be placed on top of long spears and taken around the streets of Kufa so everybody could see what had happened to the family of the great Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) who dared to stand up against the tyrant king.

The next day he called all the captive women, Imam’s surviving son Zain-ul-‘Abidin (a.s) and two of their servants and told them to mount the camel’s bare backs and shackled everyone. He even made the women remove their veils from their faces so that the people could see them, and sent them all to the tyrant king Yazid’s palace in Damascus, Syria

When the captured finally arrived in Syria and were taken to the palace of Yazid. Imam Husain’s (a.s) head, which was still on a spear, and all the other heads which were on platters were brought before Yazid. When the daughters of Imam Husain (a.s) saw their father’s head they could not hold back and screamed out and cried.

This is when Imam Hussain’s brave sister lady Zainab (a.s) who kept the surviving members of the family together and kept a hawks eye on them while leading them made an inspiring and bold speech against Yazid in his court in front of his men, to which he had little response.

Her sermon was a great and beautifully-worded analysis of the Islamic community’s situation at that time. This showed us how strong her character was. Her brother – her Imam and leader – had been martyred in a desert just two days before. Her dear ones, her children, and many other people had been martyred. She and tens of other women and children were taken captive on the same day. They were paraded in different places. Some of the people who were watching them were cheerful and some were shedding tears yet lady Zainab (s.a.) spoke like her father did when he was delivering a sermon to his people during his rule. She spoke with the same tone. She spoke using the same kind of words Imam Ali (a.s.) would use. She was equally eloquent and precise, and her words were equally profound.

“O plotters and pretenders, maybe you yourselves were starting to believe that you were following Islam and the Holy Prophet’s household, but you failed miserably in the test. You proved to be blind in the fitna. Do you pledge allegiance while you are planning a conspiracy? You can do nothing but engage in shifting allegiance, hypocrisy, flattery, self-humiliation, and empty talk. Your actions were different from your words. You became arrogant and wrongly thought that you were pious. You thought you were still revolutionary. You thought you were still the followers of the Commander of the Faithful. But the truth was something else. You were not able to deal with the fitna. You were not able to save yourselves. You ruined everything you had done before. Because of your lack of insight, your lack of knowledge of the situation, and your inability to distinguish right from wrong, you ruined everything you had built. You look faithful and you keep making revolutionary claims, but deep down you are empty and weak.”

People at Yazid’s court were awestruck and taken aback by this courageous speech by Prophet’s granddaughter.

Post this she asked for an empty house to be given to them so that they could mourn their martyrs, this is where she and other women lamented Hussain (a.s) which is now carried out in form of a very important Muhurram ritual.

After a few days in Syria, the captured were taken back to the city of Madina by Yazid’s men where people of Madina were angry and outraged at the news of the events of Karbala, they had blocked all entry points of the city and did not allow Yazid’s men to enter the city, following which a war broke out between the people of Madina and Yazid’s Syrian army and went on for next 3 months, during which his army burnt down the Holy Ka’ba as people of Madina and Makkah refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid and while they were at war, Yazid’s army received the news of Yazid’s death at the age of 36 thus the war in Madina came to an end.

Later lady Zainab (a.s) who until now led her people died at the age of 57 and was buried in Damascus, Syria as per most historians where her shrine is located.

Yazid ruled for merely 3 years after the Battle of Karbala :
In the 1st year: He killed Prophet’s grandson Hussain (a.s)
In the 2nd year: Ordered a massacre in Madina
In the 3rd year: Destroyed Ka’ba
And then died after creating the havoc on earth.

No one knows how he died as no one bothered for the evil or where (somewhere in Syria) he was buried nor till date anyone wants to know the devil’s fate either.

The writer is passionate about writing, a graduate of National Institute of Fashion Technology, currently into garment exports, based in New Delhi. In this short piece, she has tried to bring awareness to people who may not be familiar with the sequence of historical events of the past in the Muslim world